Wooden tie or sleeper for railroads and similar purposes



E. SIMON Jan. 12, 1932.

WOODEN TIE OR SLEEPER FOR RAILROADS AND SIMILAR PURPOSES Filed March 24, 1951 Unvenlor:

By" My;

Patented Jan. 12, 1932 .nNirsn S AT PAEI'Q- N fO'FFICE nans'r Simon, on BERLIN, GERMANY woonnn TIE on SLEEPER mm RAILRO Tos NDsIMILAR rtmrosns Application filed March 24, 1931 Serial No'. 524,953,-and' in Germany April 3, 1930.

This invention has reference to woodenties or sleepers for railroad and similar purposes, and it IS intended to devlse means of ncreas- 7 ing the life and the durability of such ties and particularly of ties made from relatively soft Wood. It is a well known fact that by the thrusts and other strains occurring in the operation of the railroad the ties are subjected to varying compressing stresses'by blows, jars or the likeagainst the surface of the ties which is acted upon by the pressure it has already been suggested to arrange in-' sertion pieces made from a material of great 0 er pressure resisting properties than the material of the ties themselves at those points of the surface of the ties which are exposed to the-pressure of the rail or of the, washer' or supporting plate. Such insertion pieces, as heretofore su 'ested were made to extend on the entire supporting surface inconta ctwith the rail orwith the washer or'support ing plate, so that these inserts were intended.

to act as supporting means from the start.

Now in accordance with this 'invention the insertion piece is arranged in or on the tie in such a manner that its surface is situated somewhat below the pressure surface andby this means the outer surface of the tie itself constitutes the supporting meansori inally, while only after a certain compres sion of this softer material, the inserts which consist of material of greater hardness are" also called upon to support the load. In View of the fact that the destruction of the fibers of-the ties takes place only, as soon as the compression of the materialexceeds the limit of elasticity ofthe wood of which v wood, substantially dove-tailed transversely extending notchesin the-supporting surface V, f

the tie is composed, that isto say, thatthe mechanical destruction'is'not effected, before this point is reached, the inserts which counteract the over-stepping of the limit of elasticity constitute an important means of in-Q creasing the life of the wooden ties or sleep ers. As a result of the use of these inserts 1 claims.

the rails or their washers or supporting.

plates are caused from the start and per 'manently to rest uniformly uponthe tie, and 1 a better distribution of the co1npressing,fl.. strains and a sufficient amount-'ofelasticity '55 are secured. I p v on the accompanying drawing theinvention is shown in perspective View as embodied in an ordinary wooden, tie. p

Into the'ti'e a which is composed Orson-m: wood:insertionipieces b of dove-tailed crosssection' andcomposed of hard wood'are inserted by means of correspondingly shaped notches. The outer surface 6 of the insert" 7 of hard wood recedes somewhat with relation to the surface a of thetie on itself, so that the c 1 insert I) 'of hardwood is only called upon tosupport the, weight, after a certain amount of compression of the surface of the tie has oc- 1 curredby the load due to the operation'ofthe 0 1 railroad. Obviously, the inserts may also as sume any other suitableshape and arrangea ment 1 7 The 1nvent1on,,of course, isnot restricted 1 to any particularconfiguration andlzind of V I material and may be modified in accordance :with varying, conditions of application, ex-

cept :as, otherwise stated in the appended Iclaim:- V a 1. 111 a wooden railroad tie-insertionpieces of hardermaterial than the tie and inserted in thelsupporting surface thereof somewhat below the level of said surface. 2. Wooden railroaditie, comprising in combination, body part of comparatively soft wood, a plurality of notches in the supporting surface ofjthe tie and insertsiof comp'aratiyely hard wood in said notches, the upper V V 7 surfaces of said inserts being so'mewhatbe-z 9o lowthe level of the'tie.

. 3. Vvooden railroad tie, comprising in com-f binat on, a body part of comparatively soft ln testimony whereof I aflix mysignature. f

r. ERNST SIMON.

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